International news brief: World leaders joined US in seeking reforms in UNSC and more

Washington, Sep 23: A number of world leaders have joined the United States in seeking reforms in the UN Security Council and including India as one of its permanent members, giving momentum to the demand for expansion of the powerful wing of the United Nations.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida stressed reforming the United Nations, including its security council ''to return to the vision and principles of the UN Charter, with the strengthening of the UN's functions, including disarmament and non-proliferation''.

'Knocking on famine's door': UN food chief wants action now

The UN food chief warned Thursday that the world is facing ''a perfect storm on top of a perfect storm'' and urged donors, particularly Gulf nations and billionaires, to give a few days of profits to tackle a crisis with the fertilizer supply right now and prevent widespread food shortages next year.

''Otherwise, there's gonna be chaos all over the world,'' World Food Program Executive Director David Beasley said in an Associated Press interview.

Beasley said that when he took the helm of WFP five-and-half years ago, only 80 million people around the world were headed toward starvation. ''And I'm thinking, 'Well, I can put the World Food Program out of business,''' he said.

Mexico wants UN panel, including secretary-general Guterres, Pope, PM Modi, borker peace between Russia, Ukraine

Mexico has proposed to the United Nations to set up a committee that would include India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Pope Francis and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to mediate permanent peace between Russia and Ukraine.

The proposal was put forward by Marcelo Luis Ebrard Casaubón, the foreign minister of Mexico, while participating in a UN Security Council debate on Ukraine in New York. This came days after Modi, who met Putin on the sidelines of the 22nd meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in Uzbekistan's Samarkand, told the Russian leader that "today's era is not of war".

Norway's prime minister on Ukraine: 'The war has to stop'

Norway's prime minister, Jonas Gahr Støre, believes the world - with one notable holdout - is on the same page: "The war has to stop." "I heard it from China. I heard it from India. I heard it from African colleagues. And I think that's an important message because Russia has tried to say No, there are different views,'" Støre told The Associated Press on Thursday, following the morning's UN Security Council meeting. "And of course, countries word their opinions in different ways. But in this there has been consistency. The war has to stop."

As a NATO member whose border with Russia stretches well over 100 miles (just under 200 kilometers), Norway's geographical and geopolitical location has proved relevant in the context of the crisis. It's also an elected member of the Security Council. Støre had a blunt assessment of the way Russian President Vladimir Putin has tried to justify Russia's actions.